Blue Harbor
by T-R-Us
Summary: With recent reports of mermaid sightings along the Tortallan coast, Daine and Kel set off to investigate - with Numair and Dom tagging along behind. DN, KelDom
1. Chapter One

**Title**: Blue Harbor  
**Rating:** K+  
**Authoress**: T-R-Us  
**Pairings:** Numair/Daine, Domitan/Keladry  
**Time:** Post Lady Knight, Pre Trickster's Choice

**Summary: **With recent reports of mermaid sightings along the Tortallan coast, Daine and Kel set off to investigate - with Numair and Dom tagging along behind. DN, KelDom

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it.

xxxxx

**Chapter One**

Daine's finger slid down the length of the map, pausing at each of the brass tacks pinned in place along the illustrated coastline. The smooth motion halted altogether at the small print that labelled one of the tacks as "Pirate's Swoop". The distance from there to Corus did not seem especially great on the heavy parchment, but the paper was incapable of illustrating the pounding waters, ruthless enemies and potential meteorological disasters that could befall a traveler between the two points. Rather than deter the wild mage, however, the dangerous possibilities thrilled her. It had been much too long since she had done anything adventurous – or anything fun.

"Here. You're going to need a more waterproof pack."

Daine turned, her curls tumbling about her shoulders in complement to the action as her eyes met Numair's expressively disapproving ones. He still did not want her to go. "Thank you. I wouldn't have thought of that." Actually, she had and had even gone so far as to purchase a new pack herself, but so long as Numair continued in this new vein of helpfulness, she wouldn't do anything to deter it.

After all, a protective-but-helpful Numair was much better than one who followed her around all day telling her that she couldn't leave.

His dark brows furrowed and as he opened his mouth to add something more, Daine hastened to cut him off. "We've finally decided on an exact route," she gestured to the map, "If we start at Mindelan and then sail south along the coast –"

"Daine."

She ignored him. "We'll be at Blue Harbor fairly quick and we'll rest there for a day or two --"

"Daine." His voice was more impatient sounding now and the creases in his otherwise smooth face deeper.

"—then we'll be in Pirate's Swoop within a fortnight. Assuming, of course, that it doesn't take too long to speak with each colony. Which," she grinned, mischievously, "is assuming that there even are any colonies. Which is what –"

"- You're going to find out," Numair finished for her, plunking his long frame down into a nearby chair. "What I don't understand is why you're going about it like this." By 'this', he meant the plan to travel across the Tortallan coast in nothing more than a single canoe, a means of transportation he found highly unnecessary given that his lover was perfectly capable of flying the distance and performing the same task in less than a third of the time it would take otherwise.

She floored him with a confident stare. "If you were going to find a colony of mermaids, how would you go about it? By boat is the only obvious choice."

He scowled, she had hit the nail on the head. Flying would make it too difficult to see what she was looking for and riding was impossible in the more rocky sections of coastline. "Well, if you're staying so close to shore, why don't you stop in Corus?"

"There aren't any sightings reported near Corus, you know that. We're cutting across the bay. It'll be faster." Between Pirate's Swoop and Blue Harbor the Tortallan coastline dipped in, creating a large, natural bay, which Daine wished to avoid, at the center of which was the home she shared with Numair in the kingdom's capital. "It'll save us at least two or three days to just go straight across." She looked up to meet his gaze, but Numair wasn't looking at her. He was examining the map with a calculating stare which Daine knew meant he was analyzing the distance, the danger.

"There's nowhere to stop and rest," he stated quietly, "The water will be rough in the open sea and you'll tire faster."

She shrugged, having already considered this. "I'll turn into a dolphin," her eyes glittered, "Or a whale and then I'll get out and push."

Numair did not seem to find this as amusing as Daine did. Without answering, he untacked the map from the wall, rolling it carefully and storing it next to the pack he had brought. It was his own, quiet way of giving in. "Whenever I let you out of my sight, something bad happens."

Daine laughed at the utterly wounded expression on his handsome face and bounced into his arms, burying her face in his chest. He held her tightly, bending to put his face to her hair. "Can you at least wait until I can go, too?"

The wild mage took a step back from him, her face brightening. "Aha! The truth comes out! You don't want me to go because you're _jealous_."

There was no denying the truth of this statement when Numair's face broke into the boyish look she loved so much. Eyes twinkling gaily, he swept her back into his arms. "Well, there is that to consider. You off gallivanting with merfolk and me teaching magic to pages who have little natural aptitude to begin with."

"Gallivanting with merfolk?" Daine laughed in mock outrage, "At least without you there I'll have less to worry about. You and a group of beautiful mermaids can mean only one thing. Trouble. Fish tail or no. Gallivanting with merfolk indeed."

Numair could only chuckle at this and pull her closer. "You know I only worry because I love you. Besides," he added, wryly, "Magelets are hard to come by."

With a laugh, Daine raised herself on her toes to kiss his cheek. "It's not like I'll be alone. Lady Keladry will accompany me." The original plan had been for Alanna to join Daine on the trip, an arrangement Numair had been much happier with, but fighting in the north had called her away. Keladry of Mindelan was a suggested replacement from Alanna herself, however, and Daine was familiar enough with the young knight to happily welcome her along.

"That's all very well," Numair tried one last ditch tactic, "But think of what you're leaving behind. Me. Kitten. Me. Cloud. _Me_."

His attitude reminded her so much of a sullen child that the wild mage could scarcely take him seriously. "I suppose I'll just have to miss you."

"I'll miss you more," he was quick to interject. "I'll miss the way you smile in the morning and say," he assumed a falsetto which Daine decided was a poor attempt at imitating her voice, "_It's all right, darling, you can sleep in and not go off to teach the pages this morning!_"

She snorted. "I'll miss the way you whine when you can't find your comb."

"I do not."

"Did so this morning."

xxxxx

Kel was looking towards the upcoming trip with mixed feelings, something that would surely have impressed her friends. (Feelings? From the Yamani Lump? _Godd_ess!) Though she looked forward to the idea of an adventure, spending the time with Veralidaine Sarrasri, Tortall's infamous wild mage, was a little disconcerting. She had always found Daine slightly unnerving.

Pressing her face to Peachblossom's smooth shoulder, Kel hoped that the old gelding would somehow manage to give her some extra strength. In the stall next to his, Hoshi nickered impatiently, clearly wanting attention, too. Kel wondered what they thought of this and even if they understood. Daine would know.

She shuddered.

"Leaving, are you?" The voice had a familiar, lazy tilt to it and the speaker came to lean against the stall door, though he eyed the resident warhorse warily.

"Hello, Neal."

"Hello, Lump," the knight's green eyes glittered playfully.

Kel's own eyes narrowed, but years of Yamani training kept her from giving her best friend the whacking he so clearly deserved.

"So you're off. Tomorrow, is it?"

She nodded.

"You know, there was a time when I would have been green with envy about this. A trip with Veralidaine Sarrasri," he whistled appreciatively, recalling the huge crush he had had on her through his years as a page. "Looks like the horses will miss you, though I guess I can't say much for this brute." He reached out to pat Peachblossom, then seemed to think better of it, dropping his hand back to his side. He'd been bitten one too many times to trust the gelding.

"He's coming with me to Mindelan. I'm riding him there." It would be good to see home again, she thought, even if it wasn't really _her_ home anymore.

"And then you can have a nice goodbye," he patted Hoshi, having apparently deemed this action safer. "Every one will miss you."

"Will you?" She bit her tongue. Now why had she gone and said _that_?

"Miss _you?" _He chuckled, "Miss you hovering over me at mealtimes, telling me to eat my greens? Miss you listening to me complain but then telling me to be quiet? Miss you –"

"I guess that means you will."

"Of course I will," he met her eyes levelly with a far too smug look, "But I figure Dom will miss you more."

Kel could have killed him when she realized she was blushing.

He pulled his hand away from Hoshi's head, grinning. "Don't go and get yourself killed. For all our sake's."

Kel rolled her eyes, "I'll try to keep that in mind."

"No, really. Stay alive. Especially for Dom's sake. We don't need any more heartbroken saps in the family."

Neal was laughing, but all Kel could think was that if Dom cared so much, why hadn't he said goodbye?

**Closing Comments:** La, folks, thanks for reading! Hope to see you up ahead, but believe you me, it's looking like rough waters.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

The clouds overhead were drifting by in their usual, lazy fashion. Huge, white mounds that floated past heralding the continuation of the nice weather throughout the upcoming week, for which Domitan of Masbolle was grateful. It meant that Kel would make it at least as far as Mindelan before she would have to worry about it raining on her expedition. He knew as well as she did that nothing could make traveling miserable as quickly as a sudden rainstorm.

With a sigh he slumped down onto the castle wall, off-duty for once. The past month had been rife with unexpected engagements, trips without forewarning and miserable late night guard duties. Happy though he was about some well-deserved time to himself, he wished that it could have coincided with Kel's departure. He hadn't seen her properly in weeks and had not even had the opportunity to send her a note of some sort, hadn't even really realized that she was leaving until it was too late.

Looking around himself for a moment, he burst into a sudden, explosive peal of laughter. Here he was, sitting about forlornly when this was their _lives_. He was a sergeant in the King's Own and she a lady knight, both being professions that meant riding off somewhere without a moment's notice. If he expected his relationship with Kel to go anywhere, he was going to have to accept that and hope that she did, too.

Swinging his legs over the wall, he let them hang, enjoying the view of both the sheer vertical drop and the landscape around him. Days as warm as this at only the start of the summer were rare. Already his shirt was becoming uncomfortably hot, though he had rolled up the sleeves.

"Pining away, cousin?" The drawl was only slightly accented, but it was pierced with an air of irony that only this particular speaker could have achieved.

"Why, Meathead!" Dom looked up at his cousin, grinning. "What brings the likes of you out on so fine a day? Surely not the poetic view? I would have thought you'd have your nose buried in a book of some sort." He clapped a hand down on Neal's shoulder in a brotherly fashion and slid off of the wall onto the main walkway. "What _does_ bring you out here?"

"The sun, the clouds. The all-around feeling of happiness lingering in the air, what else?" He rolled his eyes, shrugging, "And you?"

"I think you had it right the first time," Dom scrunched up his face in an attempt to imitate his cousin, "I'm 'pining away', was it?"

Neal shot him a pointed look, "I see."

"Well then, I shall let you enjoy your sun and your clouds, but I'll be heading inside, thank you." He grinned, but the statement did a poor job of covering his ulterior motive of escaping the accusingly sharp wit of his cousin, "Before the sun ruins my complexion."

"Yes, I think I'll join you," Neal simpered in reply, always the appearance of good-natured as he followed him towards one of the wall's many spiralling stairwells. "Our family does burn so easily."

Domitan froze in place, one foot on the step below, clearly being rid of Neal's invasive presence wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. "What do you want, Neal?"

He didn't answer immediately and Dom wondered if this was a good thing or a bad. "Do I need a reason to visit family?"

Dom heaved a sigh, relieved. If that was the best thing Neal could come up with in reply, he scarcely needed to worry. "No, but you usually have one. This is about Keladry, isn't it?"

Neal assumed a wounded expression, but there wasn't enough Player in his blood for Dom to be fooled by it. "Of course not. But now that you bring it up – "

"Go. Away." Dom resumed his course down the stairs.

Undeterred, Neal followed him. "They should be halfway to Mindelan by now, don't you think?"

"Neal."

"She seemed a little upset that you never went to say goodbye, I could see it in her eyes as I spoke to her. You know, for someone so renowned for expressing no emotions, Kel is surprisingly –"

"Neal," Dom spoke through gritted teeth hoping beyond hope that he would be quiet or better yet go and leave him alone. He didn't need Neal adding additional guilt to his already heavy conscience.

"Of course –"

"Neal!" He shouted, face contorting in anger.

For once in his life, Nealen of Queenscove shut up.

* * *

Numair had been certain that once Daine left he would be perfectly capable of finding something with which to occupy his time. There was an untold number of books on the shelves that he had yet to read, theories to be written down and lesson plans to be prepared, but all he could manage was sitting at his desk and staring at a blank page. He had tried on numerous occasions to put words down and the scribbled out, crumpled balls of parchment strewn around him in every which way was evidence of his failed attempts. This was foolish, he knew, a grown man rendered so utterly despondent by the temporary absence of his lover.

It wasn't as if Daine had never gone off without him before, but his uncombed hair hanging loosely about his face and his wrinkled wardrobe revealed that foolish or not, Numair had ceased to function.

He sighed and let his head fall into his hands. These first few days were guaranteed to be the toughest. These were the days he still expected to wake up with her in his arms, to find her in their shared rooms when he returned from teaching the pages. In a week he'd be fine, and if he wasn't, well, he'd give himself a week to mope and then he'd return to life.

Besides, once Daine returned and found out what he'd been doing, he'd be fully embarrassed.

He had been toying with the idea of scrying on her ever since she had left, but each time the thought nagged at him he brushed it aside. She wouldn't want him to spy.

A soft chirp from nearby indicated that Kitten was hungry, and Numair grimaced at the realization that he'd been a somewhat neglectful parent to the dragon, who must be missing Daine as much as he was. He let her clamber up into his lap and stroked her head.

Kitten alerted him to an approaching visitor even before the knock on the door indicated their presence. Without any particular speed – in fact, he moved with the slow trudge that matched his desolation – Numair moved towards the door, giving no heed to his visitor's patience.

Or lack thereof.

"Numair Salmalín – I know you're in there – now tidy up whatever it is you're doing and answer the bloody door before I knock it in myself."

With a small smile, Numair undid the magical locks. "Sorry, Jon," he apologized as the king pushed his way past the mage and into the room.

"I've got an assignment for you."

Numair quirked an eyebrow, "A – what?"

"An assignment. Mission. Whatever you prefer to call it, something for you to do _other_ than mope around court, spreading your misery and woe to everyone else."

"I wasn't aware that I was spreading any misery or woe," Numair pointed out, gaily. Once there was someone else in the room, it was much easier to forget Daine's absence. "I'll certainly have to keep that in check. What did you have in mind?"

Throwing out an arm, Jon brushed aside a number of papers, most of which were crumpled flubs from failed enterprise, off of Numair's work table. Placing down the rolled up parchment he'd brought with him, he spread it across the surface, jabbing a thumb at Blue Harbor. "There's been sightings of water demons thereabouts. Reports are coming in to the Own that a number of merchants have lost their children to it."

The news brought a pang to Numair's heart. Not only were children at risk to whatever this creature was, but Daine was headed straight for the same place.

"I could simply send out a convoy of the Own," Jon continued, "But as the creature is likely to be magical in nature, and you seem to need something to focus your energies on, I figure –"

He didn't need to say an additional word. "I'll be ready to go in an hour," Numair was already moving about the room in a hurry, digging through papers and pushing aside books to gather the things he would need. "Kitten will have to come too," he called over his shoulder as he stuffed his belongings into a bag. "She shouldn't stay here by herself."

Jonathan glanced at the dragonet, smiling. "I can find someone to take care of her for you."

Before Numair could reply, Kitten trilled her response in the negative. Evidently she'd rather go with the mage.

"You'll be taking a squad of the Own with you. Originally I was going to send Riders, but they're all occupied at the moment. A group from the Third Company, led by Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle will accompany you."

Numair took all of this in stride. "When do we leave?"

**End Chapter Two**

**Closing Comments:** A big part of me wishes I could get away with a couple thousand word one-shot of just Neal and Domitan verbally sparring with each other, but I doubt have the wit myself to carry it off. Anyway, they'd most likely just go around in circles for the duration of the fic, though it would be a lot of fun to write.


End file.
